Multiple stressors

For many children, exposure to these differing types of adversity will covary. Stressed families frequently live in poor neighbourhoods, where schools are under pressure and peer groups deviant. Early epidemiological findings suggested that isolated single risks have relatively little impact on disorder, but that rates rise sharply when risk factors combine. More recently, studies have shown that child, sociocultural, parenting, and peer-related risks each add uniquely to the prediction of behaviour problems. In addition, the total number of risks a child faces explains further variance in outcomes.

Autism is a developmental disorder that manifests itself in early childhood and affects the functioning of the brain, primarily in the areas of social interaction and communication. Children with autism look like other children but do not play or behave like other children. They must struggle daily to cope and connect with the world around them.